Incra miter gauge

[Pwk5017]

I just purchased the incra v27(I think) gauge along with their 27-49" fence extrusion, flip stop, and hold down. Looks like this will all but replace my TS sled, but a longer miter bar would make this thing even better for the $170+/- I spent on it. Can I buy another miter bar from incra to increase the crosscut capacity of the tool to 18-20"? It is in the 10" range at the moment, I think.

 

I don't mind breaking out the TS75 for cleaning/squaring up panel edges, but it becomes silly when im whipping around a 12lb saw with 75" track to true the edge of a 12" board or 15" wide cutting board.

[..Kev]

Hmm..  I'm not sure about the miter bar..

I will say that I have this unit and still use my sled more than I use this miter gauge.  Don't get me wrong, the miter gauge is very nice and works extremely well but, I get a lot more back support and clamping options out of my sled.

[cjtboy]

Unfortunately I don't think a longer miter bar will really work all that well for this purpose.  Given lack of support under the fence on the miter gauge if it is well off the table for a wider piece you want to cross cut, you are asking for a rough cut. Ideally you want to start off either touching the table top with the miter gauge fence or close to the table top - too hard to keep steady and get an accurate cut vs. a sled which is perfect for this. I think the sled is the way to go on wider pieces.

You could potentially build a "sled" of sorts over your miter gauge - I think Incra sells this type of attachment as an option, but then you're back to the sled solution which sounds like you already have.

[gee-dub]

Agreed.  I use a V-27 for the tablesaw and have one for the router table as well.  My sleds still get more use for cross cutting.  I will say that the V-27 allows air tight miters on things like picture frames.

A longer miter bar doesn't necessarily give you greater cross cut capacity.  Your gauge will hang out in space and your accuracy is shot.  I suppose you could rig some sort of an infeed (and I do this for my larger sleds)

but, this would be getting a bit Rube Goldberg for a miter gauge IMHO.

[bleedinblue]

I have the V27 with a simple add on fence.  It still only gets used for smaller, light weight pieces.  Anything large I still use a sled, otherwise it's way too easy for the work piece to shift when sliding across the saw top, even when the top is waxed and smooth.

[Eric.]

Yep, wide panels need a sled.  That's why we have them.

Also, sleds are way better for safely cutting small parts and adding auxiliary jigs for oddball cuts.  A miter gauge is great, I use mine all the time, but it does not replace a sled, it supplements it.